


The Proposal

by Teary_smiles



Series: The series of events leading up to growing old together [1]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016), holtzbert
Genre: Engagement, F/F, Holtzbert - Freeform, proposal, so i present you with 2K words on the engagement proposal extravaganza that holtzmann came up with, the prompt said as fluffy as possible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 11:50:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7617004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teary_smiles/pseuds/Teary_smiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pure fluff and sweetness. This fic was made from marshmallows, happiness, corny clichés, and the cutest soon to be engaged couple: Holtzmann and Erin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> prompt from tumblr "“If you love it so much, then why don’t you marry it?” Holtzbert", and on a scale from unbearably fluffy to still pretty fluffy: "very fluffy", so it is toot-achingly sweet right up to the cliché ending.

Erin woke up in her bed alone again. This was the third night in a row that Holtzmann had spent the night with her creations instead of her girlfriend, and Erin was mildly annoyed. It wasn’t the concept so much that annoyed her; she loved the way Holtzmann was so creative and passionate about her work, and her eyes lit up like the stars when she talked about how she configured a new contraption. Holtzmann sometimes spent up to a week on an invention until she had her eureka moment, and didn’t remember to eat or sleep without Erin's reminding. Still, there were few moments Erin loved her girlfriend more than when she jumped and danced around with all the joy of finding that last missing component, especially when she flashed Erin with that crazy wicked smile of hers and wonder in her eyes. None of Holtzmann's bad habits, and distracted focus usually annoyed Erin, but today was an exception. Exactly two years ago from today, Erin and Holtzmann had agreed they were officially dating; one year ago they had the most romantic date Erin had ever been on. Only this year Holtzmann seemed to have completely forgotten.  
Holtzmann knew that Erin was a huge romantic and a sucker for large gestures; the complete absence of them scared Erin. If after only 2 years Holtzmann didn’t care enough anymore to give her kisses in the morning of their anniversary, where would they be in another 2 years. Her relationship with Holtzmann was definitely the most serious relationship Erin had ever had, and it terrified Erin to think that someone she loved so much could stop caring as abruptly as Holtzmann had. Erin sat upright in her bed, and thought back to a month ago, when all seemed well and happy. In that short time Holtzmann had become distant, and Erin felt like she didn't know her girlfriend anymore. She didn’t even know what project Holtzmann was currently working on, and they used to share everything. Holtzmann had even been taking phone calls at strange hours and been digressive about who they were from. Erin refused to let her mind wander to all the awful places it was threatening to go, and give her girlfriend the benefit of the doubt. 

The Ghostbusters team had given them the day off (and Abby had threatened to 'use one of Holtz’s machines on her if she dared to come to work'), so instead of donning her usual work clothes she threw a silk robe on, over her underwear, and walked into the living room. She did her best to smile at her girlfriend as she looked up momentarily from her work.  
“Hey babe” Holtzmann said with a smile much more genuine than Erin’s.  
“How’s your day?” Erin asked, mostly as a test. She walked over to the coffee machine and turned it on waiting to see if her girlfriend would give the right answer.  
“Oh you know, the yuzh; I’ve been working since the early morning.”  
“Did you sleep at all?” Erin asked, not letting Holtzmann see how anxious and insecure she was getting. One of Holtzmann's few flaws (on top of forgetting their anniversary) was that she always wanted to comfort Erin. This may not seem like a bad thing, but sometimes she wanted to be angry, and she could never do that in Holtzmann’s arms. Erin stayed facing the coffee machine, and started squeezing her thumb between her index finger and middle finger (a technique she had learned to calm herself early on in high school).  
“Yeah, sorry I didn’t come to bed last night, I was just working on this here thing-a-majig.”  
“Oh yea, what was the problem with it?” Erin asked, a little more passive aggressively than she’d intended.  
“Well I couldn’t get this piece of machinery to work, but then I realised the metal was too weak to do what I wanted it to. I needed something stronger but still as malleable. Then I thought to use aluminium, and suddenly everything worked great. I just love that stuff so much” Holtzmann said, kissing the piece of metal repeatedly.  
It was their two year anniversary, and Holtzmann seemed to have completely forgotten. She even said I love you to a piece of aluminium before saying it to her girlfriend. Erin was on edge, and this was the last straw. “If you love it so much, then why don’t you marry it?” Erin said. She didn’t mean to be so rude, but she was too stubborn to take it back, so she stood firmly in her place and crossed her arms to hide that her hands were shaking.  
“Well that would be silly” Holtzmann said, grinning in a way that Erin found inappropriate for a fight. Erin’s eyes rolled back for lack of a better or snarkier response, and Holtzmann continued  
“That would be very silly,” Holtzmann got off her seat and stepped closer to her Erin, “Considering I want to marry you.”  
Erin slowly uncrossed her arms, and Holtzmann took the opportunity to take both of Erin’s hand in hers, and spoke softly, “I can tell you’re upset baby, but I promise I didn’t forget our anniversary. I wanted this to be a surprise, but not if its gonna make you sad.”  
“What surprise?!”  
Holtzmann smiled wickedly, like the grin of the cheshire cat. “Okay, wait,” Holtzmann said so giddily she was barely able to contain herself. “Go get dressed real quick” Holtzmann instructed  
When Erin asked what she was getting dressed for, Holtzmann only made a zipping motion across her lips. When she asked again, Holtzmann said she’d already said too much, and left the room.

Once Erin had gotten dressed, she went back into the living room, and found Holtzmann in a white suit, with yellow tinted shades instead of her usual goggles, sanding in front of a machine the size of a large suitcase with a chair on it, covered with a white sheet. Dramatically, Holtzmann removed the sheet, swishing it like a bullfighter, to reveal something similar to a tow cart without a handle and a throne-like seat on it. She motioned for Erin to sit down, and Erin took the throne feeling like a queen. Holtzmann started walking towards the door of the loft, and with a push of a button, the tow cart wheeled itself to follow her.

Holtzmann held the front door to their loft open as the large cart wheeled through, and Erin was met with Ben(from their Chinese place), who flashed Holtzmann a thumb’s up. He was wearing a white suit and holding a speaker on his shoulder. He pushed play, and a song started playing. Erin flooded with nostalgia as she recognised it as 'Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now' by Starships. A little over 2 years ago one late night, Erin and Holtzmann had been alone in the firehouse, and had slow danced this whole song in agonising proximity. Finally, at the end of the song, unable to resist, Erin kissed Holtzmann for the first time, and this became their song. When the words started, Holtzmann jumped into a lip-syncing and dancing routine. 

Erin’s seat moved forward a little, and then turned around to face Holtzmann, who was now backed up with dancers, all wearing white. Holtzmann was tossed a microphone from someone on the sidewalk, and she started singing and dancing to the words with typical Holtzmann moves.  
“They say we’re crazy-“ Holtzmann sang, twirling her fingers at her temples- “but I don't care about that. Put your hand in my hand, baby, don’t ever look back”. she did a pirouette that Erin didn’t know Holtzmann could pull off, and the backup dancers all (more likely cheerleaders) did a back-flip in perfect synchronisation. Erin could only imagine how long Holtzmann must have practised for this to be able to pull it off without stumbling, and suddenly the past month made a lot more sense.

As the song continued, Erin’s seat started moving backwards, and the dancers were replaced with a marching band. At the chorus a seatbelt popped out of the chair, and someone told her to make sure to put it on tight. An even larger crowd all wearing white emerged for a flashmob, and Erin started to feel light. She held on to the edge of her seat to ground herself. As she looked down she realised she wasn’t just feeling light, but actually starting to float. The seat started to propel itself upwards faster, and before long she was hovering at the hight of the skyscrapers of New York. She looked down at the crowd below her to see that they were all holding out signs that was spelled out letters. “Erin,” The crowd spelled out, before changing again, “You are amazing”. A speaker coming from somewhere in the seat told her to look up, where there was skywriting that spelled out ‘I love you’.

Her chair started to descend, and Erin could see that amongst the crowd were her and Holtzmann’s friends and family, and of course Abby, Patty, and Kevin, singing and dancing. As the song came to an end, they all started to part, and Holtzmann made her way through the crowd. She lifted her sunglasses up to her forehead, and looked deep into Erin’s eyes. 

“Erin-“ Holtzmann started to say, but Erin couldn’t contain herself and squealed.  
“Sorry, go ahead”  
“Erin,” Holtzmann started again and a compartment of the vehicle opened up to reveal a little black box. “I’m a know-it-all, but as hard as I try, I will never know it all. But what I do know, with undeniable certainty is that I love you, and with you by my side… nothing’s gonna stop us.”   
Erin noted that Holtzmann didn’t laugh at her own pun, and didn’t make any finger guns, and realised she was probably incredibly nervous   
Holtzmann picked up the little black box as she continued, “Erin, you are the love of my life.” Holtzmann got on one knee, “and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Holtzmann opened the little box to reveal a beautiful black gold ring with a fire opal stone, “Will you hang out with me?” Holtzmann said jokingly.  
“Just kidding, will you marry-“  
“Yes!” Erin erupted. She leapt out of the chair into Holtzmann’s arms and kissed her. The crowd applauded and cheered.  
“Wait.” Holtzmann said putting up a finger. Holtzmann then pressed a button on her contraption and it started counting down from 5. When the countdown reached 0, tens of rockets erupted from the chair, and when they reached the hight of the tallest skyscraper, they exploded into fireworks that spelled out Holtz + Erin inside a heart-shape. Confetti rained down on the crowd, and they cheered some more.  
“Don’t worry,” Holtzmann whispered to Erin “It’s biodegradable” she said with a smile, and Erin kissed her again.  
“Hold on.” Holtzmann slipped the ring onto Erin’s finger, and showed her a matching ring on her own ring finger, before grabbing her hand and holding it up for all the people see.  
“We’re getting married!” Erin screamed at the crowd, barely believing it.  
“I love you”  
“I love you”  
As they kissed, camera flashes went off all around them. Reporters and camera men started yelling out questions, and shoving video cameras and microphones in their faces. Holtzmann put her mouth right up to Erin’s ear and said ‘follow me’. She ran through the crowd that parted for them, and blocked the way of the paparazzi stalking them. Hand in hand Holtzmann and Erin ran down the street into an alley. Right when Erin was about to ask where they were doing here, she noticed a motorcycle hidden behind some boxes. Holtzmann moved them aside, and told Erin to hop onto Ecto-2. They both buckled up their helmets, and Holtzmann slid her shades back over her eyes. Erin held on to her new fiancée’s waist, and just a little scared, she gripped on tight, which Holtzmann didn't mind one bit. The scene was picture perfect; the lovers held on to each other, and leaving their worries behind they sped off into the sunset.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I might potentially follow this work up with the engagement/the wedding/the honeymoon, so let me know what you think.


End file.
